As astronauts discover the first evidence of extra-terrestrial life on Mars, they begin realising that the life form is extremely intelligent and hostile.
Closing 2024, a non-profit organization called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) released a list of nominees for people who are considered to have contributed greatly to worsening organized crime and corruption. Indonesia's seventh president, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, is on the nomination list.
Even though he was ultimately less corrupt than the winner of the 2024 Person of the Year award, Bashar al-Assad (former President of Syria), the inclusion of Joko Widodo as one of the nominees is a bad precedent for the situation of democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
Nevertheless, YLBHI views that the label of the most corrupt figure in 2024 released by OCCRP has a strong basis.
YLBHI sees at least 10 factors that make Jokowi worthy of being called a corruptor.
1. Systematic weakening of the KPK
2. Revision of the Mineral and Coal Mining Law (2020)
3. Omnibus Law and Abandonment of Checks and Balances
4. Zero Meritocracy Regime
5. Reviving Military Dual Function
6. State-Owned Enterprises become Volunteer-Owned Enterprises
7. Intelligence for Political Purposes
8. Repression and Criminalization
9. National Strategic Project Taking away people's living space
10. Power Nepotism
YLBHI Jakarta Management,
**The Constitutional Court's Decision to Eliminate the Presidential Threshold is the Entrance Door for Improving Democracy and the Political System in Indonesia**
YLBHI believes that the Constitutional Court's decision, which was issued earlier this year, shows new hope for improving the democratic system and the rule of law.
Over the last decade, democracy and the rule of law have continued to experience regression and decay. It is hoped that this decision will be able to erode the dominance of oligarchs which have so far damaged the political system and Presidential Elections and shackled legal and economic democracy.
This decision does not fully reveal political problems that do not support substantive citizenship and democracy. Nevertheless, the decision to eliminate the threshold for presidential candidacy should be an entry point to improving the Indonesian party and political system towards a more participatory and democratic political system in accordance with the constitutional mandate.
As is known, Thursday, January 2 2025. The Constitutional Court handed down Decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024. This decision is related to the material review of the article that regulates the precedential threshold in the Election Law, which regulates support for the number of party seats in the DPR for Presidential Candidates to be able to nominate themselves.
This arrangement has been declared contrary to the constitution and declared not to have binding legal force by the Constitutional Court. The legal implication is that every political party participating in the election has the right to nominate candidates for President and Vice President in the election.
This decision revises the previous Constitutional Court decision, which rejected the cancellation of the threshold for presidential candidacy, considering that the threshold for presidential nomination was within the authority of the legislators. Previously, there were 36 petitions submitted to the Constitutional Court during the time the Election Law was passed, these petitions sought the abolition of the application of the precedential threshold based on Article 222 of the Election Law.
However, these requests were never granted by the MK. YLBHI strongly suspects that previous Constitutional Court decisions were not free from the grip of the oligarchy and political authorities who did not want democratization to run well, thus not providing independence to Constitutional Court judges in examining and adjudicating requests for the abolition of the precedential threshold practice.
Currently what needs to be watched out for is changes to various laws related to politics and elections. We still remember how the political parties in the DPR haphazardly interpreted the Constitutional Court's decision as they pleased, as happened with the previous Regional Election Law.
Not only that, for a decade, the DPR passed many laws without considering Meaningful Participation, which had the impact of passing laws that were detrimental to the people, disrupted the rule of law system and violated human rights. For this reason, YLBHI calls for continuing to monitor the Constitutional Court Decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024.
Based on the above, YLBHI urges:
The importance of maintaining the independence of the Constitutional Court and the dignity of Constitutional Court judges so that they can carry out the functions of judicial power independently by selecting the best, those with integrity and statesmanship, and preventing interference from the authorities;
The DPR and the Government comply with the Constitutional Court's decision;
Immediately revise regulations related to the political system in line with the provisions in the Constitutional Court decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024, this is to strengthen the protection of political rights and people's sovereignty in democracy and the Indonesian rule of law;
calls on all Indonesian people to work together to guard the Constitutional Court Decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024...
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